


i'd be lying if i said i wasn't wishing for an untimely death or demise

by zero_point



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fratricide, Guilt, Hawkfrost Wins AU, Murder, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24654805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zero_point/pseuds/zero_point
Summary: “Hawkfrost, move.”The thin tom shook his head. “Brambleclaw, you’re my brother, and I love you.” For just a moment, Brambleclaw’s stance seemed to soften. As if Hawkfrost’s feelings really mattered to him.So weak-hearted and easily swayed by words. You would have made a terrible leader.Hawkfrost thought, feeling fire-hot adrenaline rising in his chest. “But I’d be lying if I said I will not relish in the feeling of my claws tearing you apart.”
Relationships: Brambleclaw & Hawkfrost (Warriors), Hawkfrost & Tigerclaw (Warriors)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	i'd be lying if i said i wasn't wishing for an untimely death or demise

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't really connected to anything - just inspired by a map script i wrote for 'brutus.' i can't animate and will never host a map, so i decided to put the pivotal scene - hawkfrost killing brambleclaw - into words.
> 
> hope you enjoy.

“ _ No _ .” Brambleclaw meowed, “I won’t do it.”

Blood roared in Hawkfrost’s ears. After all he and Brambleclaw had gone through together. The training. Planning. Sucking up to Tigerstar, pretending that all of his words held weight.

Hawkfrost tried to speak. To protest, maybe. But no words came out. Brambleclaw had already rushed to Firestar’s side, whispering assuring words while he tried to dig the stick from the dirt.

“ _ Coward! _ ” Hawkfrost flung himself into Brambleclaw’s side, pinning his half-brother beneath him. “Stay away! I’ll kill him myself if I have to!”

Brambleclaw thrust his hind legs into Hawkfrost’s belly, pushing him off. Again, he returned to Firestar’s side. Hawkfrost heaved himself onto his paws, his icy blue gaze boring into Brambleclaw.

Leadership was within Brambleclaw’s grasp - just a claw away - but he  _ still _ couldn’t do it. If Brambleclaw was too weak to take the final leap, what kind of leader would he be?

Tigerstar had been right. Brambleclaw was soft-hearted. His heart ached at the thought of killing his brother, but Hawkfrost couldn’t let Brambleclaw - or Firestar - live. They knew too much.

Just before Brambleclaw could manage to slip the metal stake out of the soft earth, Hawkfrost leapt toward him and latched his teeth deep into the scruff of his neck. He was smaller than Brambleclaw, but he managed to drag him away from Firestar and throw him into the dirt. 

“You’re a coward  _ and _ a traitor, Brambleclaw.” Hawkfrost’s voice was laced with malice, but all he felt was  _ hollow _ . His own brother had betrayed him! “We could have been great. We could have united the clans!”

“I will  _ not _ lay a claw on Firestar.” Brambleclaw pushed himself back onto his paws. He stepped closer to Firestar, again, but Hawkfrost shoved himself between the two. “Stop it, Hawkfrost. You’re my brother. I don’t want to hurt you. Go back to RiverClan.”

“Liar.” Hawkfrost hissed, “You were always the one Tigerstar cared about more. His firstborn, pure-blooded kit.” The memories of their meetings in the Dark Forest flooded his mind. The fights that Tigerstar had put them through. The unrelenting fury that Brambleclaw had always fought with. “If you really ever cared, you would have never hurt me then.”

“That was practice.” Even though Brambleclaw was speaking to Hawkfrost, his eyes were glued to Firestar. Hawkfrost didn’t dare look at the ThunderClan leader. One wrong move and Brambleclaw could pounce - and all of his hard work would have been for nothing.

“Practice with unsheathed claws.”

“Tigerstar forced us!”

“Father never  _ forced _ you to shove my face in the mud. He never  _ forced _ your claws into my pelt.”

Brambleclaw fell quiet, his tail lashing. Hawkfrost silently noted his unsheathed claws and prepared himself by bunching up his muscles. A fight was inevitable at this point.

“Hawkfrost, move.”

The thin tom shook his head. “Brambleclaw, you’re my brother, and I love you.” For just a moment, Brambleclaw’s stance seemed to soften. As if Hawkfrost’s feelings really mattered to him. 

_ So weak-hearted and easily swayed by words. You would have made a terrible leader. _ Hawkfrost thought, feeling fire-hot adrenaline rising in his chest. “But I’d be lying if I said I will not relish in the feeling of my claws tearing you apart.”

Not wasting another moment, Hawkfrost leaped for Brambleclaw, crashing into his chest. He managed to pin his older brother to the ground, but before he could raise his paw to strike a harsh blow, Brambleclaw kicked his paws into Hawkfrost’s belly. Hawkfrost fell backward, and Brambleclaw jumped to his paws, once again, rushing to Firestar’s side.

_ “Fool!” _ Hawkfrost spat. He rushed to Brambleclaw again, knocking him onto his side. The metal stake, between Brambleclaw’s teeth, tore from the dirt. Hawkfrost leaped on top of Brambleclaw, pinning him by his shoulders, his belly up.

Brambleclaw thrust the stick upwards, right towards Hawkfrost’s neck - but the tom grabbed it between his teeth, the sharp tip only grazing his skin through his thick fur.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment. Brambleclaw’s eyes widened with terror - whatever idiotic little plan he’d had had failed. Maybe Brambleclaw thought he’d kill Hawkfrost, save Firestar, and be ThunderClan’s hero. But he was a fool. His head was in the clouds, filled with fantasies of his victory and future life as ThunderClan’s  _ glorious _ leader.

But that wasn’t how the story would go.

Hawkfrost smirked, his icy gaze colder than ever. He tore the stake from Brambleclaw’s jaws and tossed it aside, letting his grip loosen for just a moment. Brambleclaw did exactly what Hawkfrost had wanted; he pushed Hawkfrost away and stood up to face him again. Hawkfrost took the opportunity to leap onto his back and wrestle him back into the ground. Using one paw to rub Brambleclaw’s head into the dirt, while keeping him pinned with the other three, Hawkfrost secured his jaws around Brambleclaw’s neck and bit down. Hawkfrost felt a satisfying  _ crunch _ between his teeth, and his half-brother went limp.

“I win.” Hawkfrost meowed, hardly able to keep in a triumphant laugh. “I  _ win! _ ” He stepped off of Brambleclaw’s body, looking him over. A pang of emptiness throbbed in Hawkfrost’s heart, but he pushed it away. He wasn’t  _ sad _ . He shouldn’t be  _ sad _ . This was a victory. This was the moment he’d been dreaming for, back from even before The Great Journey.

Firestar’s death was a small price to pay for Brambleclaw’s life. Nevermind who would become ThunderClan’s leader after both their deputy and leader has passed away. It wasn’t Hawkfrost’s problem.

Practically bouncing with pride, Hawkfrost stepped off of Brambleclaw’s body. He latched his teeth into the scruff of his neck and lifted him, then began to drag him to the lake. With such a clean kill, there would be no way for ThunderClan to know Brambleclaw had died here. Hawkfrost could hide his body... They would simply assume that Brambleclaw had killed Firestar himself and deserted his own clan. Like a coward. A memory that would live on in ThunderClan for a long while. A memory that Brambleclaw deserved.

Hawkfrost carried his half-brother into the lake and let its dark depths swallow him whole. He swam back to shore and began his trek back home.

Hawkfrost heard a pair of heavy pawsteps fall in alongside his own. 

Tigerstar’s ghostly voice pierced his ears like a claw. “Such a shame. About your brother.” Hawkfrost looked up at Tigerstar. The brown tabby stared down at him, a trace of genuine disappointment in his deep amber eyes. “A waste.”

_ A waste. _ Hawkfrost’s lips curled into a snarl.  _ A waste _ . Not a congratulations on his victory. Not praise for all of his hard work. No.  _ Brambleclaw’s death was a waste. _

“He betrayed us.” Hawkfrost hissed.

“Makes it even more awful, don’t you think?”

Hawkfrost stopped. “.. No.” He turned to fully face Tigerstar and unsheathed his claws. “ _ I  _ lead Firestar into the fox trap.  _ I _ collaborated with Mudclaw.  _ I _ have been doing all of the work this whole time while Brambleclaw sat and did  _ nothing!” _ Before Tigerstar could respond, Hawkfrost snarled at him, “You should be praising  _ me _ ! I’ve done  _ terrible _ things for you, I manipulated my own sister, I  _ killed _ , I-”

Tigerstar’s look of surprise had evolved into one of anger. He towered over Hawkfrost without even trying to look big - and in a flash, he raised a paw and swiped Hawkfrost’s cheek, sending him tumbling over in the mud.

“Useless ingrate!” Tigerstar hissed.

Hawkfrost bit back a surprised gasp. It wasn’t Tigerstar hurting him that startled him - it was the fact that he’d managed to  _ leave a mark _ as a ghostly apparition. The only other time he’d felt Tigerstar’s claws was in the Dark Forest - but he was physically  _ there _ . How could he have manifested that way now?

“I’m your  _ father _ ! You  _ will  _ list-”

“No!” Hawkfrost squinted, trying to keep blood from dripping into his eyes. “Not anymore. I don’t want to see you  _ ever _ again. If you come to me in my dreams again, I  _ will _ tear out your throat.”

“Hawk-”

“Shut up!” The tom squeezed his eyes shut, then hissed, with all the rage of a cat who had been wronged since birth. “From now on, I make my  _ own _ path. May you walk alone beneath a starless sky, rotting in agony for the rest of your worthless existence. I hope  _ nobody  _ forgets you.”

When Hawkfrost opened his eyes again, Tigerstar was gone.

He let out a heavy breath, his shoulders slumping as the roaring in his ears went silent. An enormous pressure was gone from Hawkfrost’s chest. He could only hope that would be the last time he saw Tigerstar.

Hawkfrost shivered from head to toe and started walking again. He felt... Surprisingly reinvigorated... Like a new cat. 

Most of all, free.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!
> 
> if this is something you'd like to see more of - let me know. this version of hawkfrost has done some pretty messed up stuff, just like his canon version, but i don't think he's beyond partial redemption. i wouldn't mind seeing him (or writing about him, i guess) becoming a cat like blackstar. someone with a dark past and more regrets than they count on two paws.
> 
> anyways, thanks again for reading!


End file.
